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Beltane
Posted on May 1, 2011 | No CommentsBeltane (Beltaine)…one of the eight main Celtic Festivals recognised by Celts, Pagans and Wiccans as sabbats, marks the ending of Winter and the coming of Summer. Spring has sprung, nature is in bloom and the earth is full of life. In Edinburgh every year on April 30th, the Beltane Society host the Beltane Fire Festival on Carlton Hill, an amazing spectacle in every way……fire (obviously), dancing, ritual, procession, and drums….oh my, the drums…the sound goes to your very soul! I haven’t been to Beltane in over 20 years or so, being out of the country or raising small children with no sitter. So last night I went with friends, full of anticipation and although it was a wonderful evening it was rather marred by the amount of drunken louts who were only there because it was a cheap night out and they had nothing better to do. They had absolutely no idea what the ceremony was about and didn’t take the time to find out. I even heard one person say ‘oh, it’s not serious, it’s just a laugh’. As my friend very rightly pointed out, would you say that if I were to go drunk into your church during a service and act the fool? There were some very disrespectful people there. Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against people having a good time – after all, Beltane is a time of celebration. However, there were plenty of people there who were having a wonderful time, without... -
You’d think I’d learn…
Posted on April 18, 2011 | No Commentsafter I ‘broke’ my last website..but no! I’ve been swithering since before Christmas to revamp the site. I wanted to separate the Wedding stuff from the general cards and invitations and streamline the site a bit – it was getting a bit crowded and a few people had said it was confusing and hard to find what they were looking for. So, with the help of Carol (once again), I did a bit of moving, a bit of copying and pasting and a bit of mashing buttons until they did what I wanted them to and et voila!..our new and improved websites. I’ve added a couple of fun things to them too – my ‘follow me’ twitter logo and my twitter stream…not that I say anything earth shattering you understand, but nice to know they’re there. All in all, I’m really happy with the site now – it’s clean and easy to navigate and gave me a reason to ignore the housework for a while! -
Valentine’s Day
Posted on February 8, 2011 | No CommentsContrary to popular belief, Valentine’s Day was not invented by Hallmark! The history of the day goes back as far as 270AD and started with the clash between a Bishop and the Roman ruler, Emperor Claudius II. There are two different versions of the story (a Catholic and a Protestant one), however, both stories agree in the main. St Valentine was a bishop who held secret marriage ceremonies for soldiers, in opposition to Claudius II who had prohibited marriage for young men, believing that married men did not make good soldiers and that marriage made them weak. St Valentine was caught and imprisoned. He refused to agree with the Emperor regarding the ban on marriage and refused to recognise the Roman gods (he even tried to convert the Emperor to Christianity, fully aware of the consequences). This angered the Emperor who gave orders for Valentine to be executed. In the meantime, Valentine had formed a friendship with the daughter of one of his jailers and just before his execution he wrote a farewell message to her … signing it ‘From your Valentine’ – a phrase still used today in modern Valentines. It was, however, only during the 14th Century that St Valentine’s Day became associated with love. The author Chaucer is credited with being the first to link the day with romance in his ‘The Parliament of Fowls’ , written about the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. The holiday evolved... -
What a week!
Posted on October 16, 2010 | No CommentsWell….where do I start? It’s certainly been a week of ups and downs here at CorriganCards. Firstly, my boiler went kaput! We have no heating and no hot water – it really makes you grateful for things you take for granted. Just waiting for some quotes to come back (hopefully a lot less than British Gas quoted us) and then we’ll be in business. Then we got some very exciting news. A wonderful commission from Volvo. They were looking for some special party invitations and had some very specific ideas about what they wanted. After lots of discussion and tweaking of our original ideas, we came up with a fabulous design, and one both CorriganCards and Volvo were very happy with. Click on the pics for more detail -
Moving day….and next day
Posted on September 6, 2010 | No CommentsWell, it’s been moving day in the CorriganCards household. My daughter, Kat rented a new flat, so on Sunday we packed up all her worldly goods and moved her into her new accommodation. I have to say, for a first rental flat, she pretty much landed on her feet. It’s a gorgeous Victorian building, originally a one family home, which has been converted into several flats. Beautiful high ceilings and huge windows, so lots of light, which cuts down on the electricity bill – always a good thing for a student. So, now that Kat’s officially moved out, CorriganCards moved into her old bedroom. Because she was away so often over the past few years, she was given the small bedroom which I’d earmarked years ago for my workroom once she moved on. On Sunday afternoon, my husband and I cleared the room, hauled away the old carpet and gave it a lick of paint. This morning I laid vinyl tiles on the floor and heaved all my stuff upstairs. You don’t actually realise how much stuff you accumulate until you have to move it all. I have to say, I’m really pleased with the results, although I now hurt in muscles I didn’t know I had…. -
It’s been a busy week….
Posted on August 3, 2010 | No Commentsthis week. I had an unexpected visit from my mother (who currently lives overseas) and is staying with us for two weeks. It’s lovely to see her and, as this visit coincides with her birthday today, tonight we’re going out for a meal and a chance to set work aside and just relax. I did manage to do some work this week though – I’ve been working on some handbag cards. I haven’t done any of these for a while and I had forgotten how lovely they turn out. No two are alike and most of the time I make these to commission and are made specifically for the recipient, but these ones I made just because. One is made using a gorgeous yellow paper with deco roses and the other with Kozo paper, my favourite paper medium at the moment. These cards comprise of a little bi-fold card to write your message on, a handbag-shaped envelope to put your card and a paper gift (money or vouchers) in and a matching box. They’re something just a little different and special. To see more of the handbag cards I’ve made in the past, click here. Click on the images below to see more detail. -
Something new
Posted on July 17, 2010 | No CommentsA couple of new cards today – two little Christening cards on snow white pearlised card. These can be personalised inside with the little one’s name and either date of birth or Christening date. They are embellished with a little chrome cross which can be removed and strung on a chain as a keepsake. See Shop/Children & Babies to order. -
Friends
Posted on June 12, 2010 | No CommentsFrom time to time you come across people who change your life, who do you a great service or who just make you smile for a day…and then there are the people you come across who you know you were meant to meet. My friend Andrea is one of the latter – we have so much in common it spooks all of our friends to the point where they call us The Twins. Even though we live miles away from each other and don’t get to see each other from one end of the year to the next, we talk most days – usually via email or private message. We’re roughly the same age, we have two children – a girl then a boy – with the same age gap between them, our second husbands are both 16 years younger than us and share the same first name, we have similar tastes in music, books and film, although we disagree on one thing …. I love True Blood, she prefers Twilight, but hey, I can forgive her that! If one of us is ill you can guarantee the other will be too. I can talk to her about everything and anything and know that I won’t be misunderstood and that feelings won’t be hurt on either side and I can count on her no matter what…this is a true friend. My friend Carol, I met through the craft circuit. She is truly an amazingly talented woman who has successfully attempted... -
Hen & Stag invitations
Posted on June 1, 2010 | No CommentsNew in today – Hen & Stag invitations. These lovely little cards are perfect for your Hen or Stag nights. The hen cards are in the shape of corsets and come in any colour you want…the example shows purple, black and silver. Our Stag invitations come in the shape of top hats and the example shown uses a black ribbon, however, we can use any colour ribbon you desire. A pack of ten invitations costs £15 and includes envelopes and personalised inserts. Click on the image for more details -
Sugar and Spice and all things nice
Posted on April 7, 2010 | No CommentsThat’s what little girls are made of. Two new cards for our General Cards department. These lovely little dress-shaped cards can be used as birth announcements or to congratulate on the birth of a new baby girl. For more details, or to purchase this card, click here or go to Shop/General Cards